Has the Ark of the Covenant been found? I think I've read somewhere in Scripture that it's finding is reserved for the end of time? Thank you so much. You've helped me a lot, Father.

Answer by Fr. John Echert on 12/12/2012:

The last mention of the location of the Ark is found in 2 Maccabees, chapter two:

It was also in the writing that the prophet (Jeremiah), having received an oracle, ordered that the tent and the ark should follow with him, and that he went out to the mountain where Moses had gone up and had seen the inheritance of God. And Jeremiah came and found a cave, and he brought there the tent and the ark and the altar of incense, and he sealed up the entrance. Some of those who followed him came up to mark the way, but could not find it. When Jeremiah learned of it, he rebuked them and declared: "The place shall be unknown until God gathers his people together again and shows his mercy. And then the Lord will disclose these things, and the glory of the Lord and the cloud will appear, as they were shown in the case of Moses, and as Solomon asked that the place should be specially consecrated.

This is plausible, as the Prophet Jeremiah lived during the time of the Babylonian destruction of the City of Jerusalem. In order to keep the most Sacred Object on Earth from the hands of infidels, it would seem fitting that the Prophet would insure its protection. The wording of this text does not reach the level of certainty, since it states that it is recorded and not necessarily fact, but I find it plausible and even likely. Contrary to popular belief, Indiana Jones did not find the Ark and it is not in a government warehouse :)